Microsoft Wednesday shipped a more polished preview of Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) for Windows 7. The Release Preview, as Microsoft named it, followed a rougher-edged Developer Preview issued in late July.

IE11 on Windows 7 is similar to the same-named browser slated to ship in final form with Windows 8.1, the update set to debut on the Windows Store Oct. 17 as a free download for current Windows 8 users.

There are several differences, however, between the two. While IE11 on Windows 8.1 is -- for obvious reasons given the newer OS's emphasis -- heavily reliant on touch and gestures, IE11 on Windows 7 is a keyboard-and-mouse application. It also places the address bar at the top of the window, unlike at the bottom as does IE11 on Windows 8.1's "Modern" nee "Metro" user interface (UI).

The Windows 7 browser also omitted support for SPDY -- the Google-designed page load acceleration protocol -- won't sync open tabs between machines, as does Google's Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox and IE11 on Windows 8.1; and cannot keep as many tabs open as 8.1's version.